We are thrilled to share that our Christmas Devotional for Teenagers is now available for preorder! Purchase your copy of Longing for Christmas today at New Growth Press or wherever you buy books. Don’t miss the opportunity to buy in bulk for a discount on the New Growth Press website — a perfect gift for your youth ministry students, or all the kids or grandkids in your family! Enjoy this small excerpt from the devotional, available in full in Longing for Christmas.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him…
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations… (Isaiah 42:1-6)
Anxiety to the point of fainting. Discouragement that does not lift. Abuse that leaves you bruised. Faithlessness like a candle about to go out. Whether it is the constant comparison of yourself to others, your looks to their looks, your accomplishments to their accomplishments, or the inability to break a cycle of sin that you hate, you can’t take it anymore. You sense that your candle is about to go out. You feel like a reed about to break. Your embers are barely burning.
Enter Jesus… To read the rest of this devotional and all 25 entries, purchase our advent devotional, Longing for Christmas.